Building Project

“But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”  (1 Tim 6:9-10)

One familiar aspect of modern life is the proliferation of organizations which study phenomena which have already been explained by common sense long ago.  (“University Studies Connection Between Running With Sharp Objects, Eye Injuries,”  “Science Investigates Possible Relationship Between Overeating, Weight Gain”)  One such organization, the Catastrophe Institute (www.catastropheinstitute.org), is a think tank which posits, among other things, that “Self inflicted catastrophes occur on a daily basis, from small scale personal disasters to the impact of our collective behavior in relation to the world at large.”  This is a fancy way of saying that we bring many of our problems on ourselves.

Sometimes it appears that there is an irresistible inevitability to catastrophe.  Whether it is the girl who marries the man that everyone knows is bad news or Robert E. Lee ordering Picket’s charge at Gettysburg, it seems that some things are just too dumb to be stopped.  The Institute calls these “self-triggered catastrophes” and their aim is to “Explore the characteristics of all self-triggered catastrophes in the field of policy, society, economics and biography.”  This should certainly keep them occupied for the foreseeable future.

All this talk of aiming and self-triggering made me think of Paul who said, in essence, that many have shot themselves in the foot in the pursuit of money.

These are “those who want to get rich” and have a “longing” for wealth.  But to aim for anything outside Christ misses the target, which is why it is called “sin.”  The “Ready! Shoot! Aim!”  of self-triggering catastrophes are “temptations, snares, and many foolish and harmful desires.”  For example, the big guns of the Enron debacle were self-confessed Christians and what happened?  They found themselves looking down the barrel of “ruin and destruction,”  having “wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

The Catastrophe Institute may be busy in their efforts to “Develop initiatives for action in preparation for a variety of impending disasters” but they are short on specific remedies.  The postmodern academy is not as interested in answers as in questions, but the Word of God provides the ammunition the Institute lacks. “Flee these things,” “pursue righteousness, godliness, etc,” “fight the good fight of faith,” “take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.”  Or as Jesus said, "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matt 6:33)

Please give to the building fund. This is a goal that is right on target!